Good afternoon, Wisconsin! [cheers] Good afternoon, everyone! Thank you! It is good to be back. Thank you all very much.
Can we please hear for Leah and her extraordinary story and leadership? [cheers] And I do believe our teachers do God's work. They teach other people's children and God knows we don't pay them enough. Let's thank her. [cheers]
And it is so good to be here and be back with so many extraordinary leaders, including my friend, the great governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers. [cheers] He's here somewhere.
My dear friend, Senator Tammy Baldwin. [cheers] And you know I had the privilege of serving with Tammy when I was in the United States Senate and she is always fighting for the people of this state. And I know that the folks that are here are going to make sure you return her to Washington, D.C., in November. [cheers] Yes, we are going to elect her back to Washington, D.C.
It is so good to be here also with Lt. Gov. Sarah Rodriguez, [cheers] Attorney General Josh Kaul, [cheers] Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, [cheers] County Executive David Crowley, [cheers] Mayor Cavalier Johnson, [cheers] and the great state party chair Ben Wikler, [cheers] who I have worked with.
Ben, you and I have been working together for years and I can attest he knows how to build the infrastructure that delivers wins up and down the ballot. Thank you, Ben. [cheers]
So it is good to be back in Wisconsin and it is great to be in Milwaukee. [cheers]
As many of you know, our state campaign headquarters are in this city, and that…there is a reason for that—the path to the White House goes through Wisconsin. [cheers] Yes, it does. And to win in Wisconsin, we are counting on you right here in Milwaukee. [cheers] And you all helped us win in 2020 and in 2024 we will win again. [cheers] Yes, we will.
So Milwaukee, I want to start by saying a few words and I could really speak at length but a few words about our incredible President Joe Biden. [cheers]
It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as vice president to our President Joe Biden. [cheers]
Joe's legacy of accomplishment over his entire career and over the past three and a half years is unmatched in modern history. In one term—think about it—in one term as president he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office. [cheers and applause]
And I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his continuing service to our nation. [cheers and applause]
And it is my great honor to have Joe Biden's endorsement in this race. [cheers and applause]
So, Wisconsin, I am told as of this morning that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. [cheers and applause]
And I am so very honored and I pledge to you I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so that we are ready to win in November. [cheers and applause]
So, friends, we have 105 days until Election Day and in that time we've got some work to do. But we're not afraid of hard work. We like hard work, don't we? [cheers] And we will win this election. [cheers and applause] Yes, we will.
So as Leah told you, before I was elected vice president, before I was elected United States senator, I was elected attorney general of the State of California, and I was a courtroom prosecutor before then.
And in those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type. [cheers and applause and chants of “Kamala!”]
And in this campaign, I promise you I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week. [cheers and applause]
As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students. [boos]
As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse. [boos]
As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts. [boos]
But let's also make no mistake—this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This campaign is about who we fight for. [cheers and applause] This is about who we fight for.
Just look at how we are running our campaigns. So Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions. [boos] A couple months ago, y’all saw that, a couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago he literally promised Big Oil companies, Big Oil lobbyists, he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations. [boos]
On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign. [cheers and applause]
And we just had some breaking news. We just had the best 24 hours [cheers] of grassroot fundraising in presidential campaign history. [cheers and applause] All right?
And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency. [cheers and applause]
And Wisconsin, this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation—one where we are focused on the future, the other focused on the past.
We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. [cheers and applause]
A future where no child has to grow up in poverty. [cheers and applause]
Where every worker has the freedom to join a union. [cheers and applause]
Where every person has affordable health care, [cheers and applause] affordable child care, [cheers and applause] and paid family leave. [cheers and applause]
We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity. [cheers and applause]
So all of this is to say building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. [cheers and applause]
Because here's the thing—we all here, Wisconsin, know—when our middle class is strong, America is strong. [cheers and applause]
But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda [boos] will weaken the middle class. Like we know we got to take this serious thing. Can you believe they put that thing in writing? Read it! It's 900 pages.
But here's the thing—when you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare. [boos] He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill. [boos] They intend to end the Affordable Care Act [boos] and take us back then to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre-existing conditions. [boos] Remember what that was like? Children with asthma, women who survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes.
America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back. [cheers and applause] We are not going back. Not going back. [crowd chants “We're not going back.”] We're not going back.
And I'll tell you why we're not going back—because ours is a fight for the future [cheers] and it is a fight for freedom. [cheers]
Generations of Americans…generations. And we have to remember this—the shoulders on which we stand, generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands. [cheers and applause]
We, who believe in the sacred freedom to vote, will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted. [cheers and applause]
We, who believe that every person in our nation should who should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence, will finally pass red flag laws, [cheers] universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban. [cheers and applause]
And we who believe in reproductive freedom [cheers and applause] will stop Donald Trump's extreme abortion bans, because we trust women to make decisions about their own body [cheers and applause] and not have their government tell them what to do. [cheers and applause]
And when Congress passes the law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States I will sign it into law. [cheers and applause]
So, Wisconsin, ultimately in this election we each face a question: what kind of country do we want to live in—a country [comment from audience member] and to your point [said to audience member; crowd laughs], do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
And here's the beauty of this moment. We each have the power to answer that question. The power is with the people. [cheers] We each have the power to answer that question.
And in the next 105 days, then, we have work to do. We have doors to knock on. We have phone calls to make. We have voters to register. And we have an election to win. [cheers and applause]
So, Wisconsin, today I ask you—are you ready to get to work? [cheers and applause]
Do we believe in freedom? [cheers and applause] Do we believe in opportunity? [cheers and applause] Do we believe in the promise of America? [cheers and applause]
And are we ready to fight for it? And when we fight, we win.
God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
Neither the Catt Center nor Iowa State University is affiliated with any individual in the Archives or any political party. Inclusion in the Archives is not an endorsement by the center or the university.